Miami Dolphins sign Bond

The Miami Dolphins have reportedly signed 30 year old Jy Bond, son of former Richmond player (and 3AW football commentator) Graham Bond as a punter. Bond has been in training over the last few years to get a shot at punting in the NFL. He was drafted to Richmond under the father/son rule some years back, but never played senior football for the club.

Bond is likely to have to compete for the punting spot throughout the preseason until either he or incumbent punter Brandon Fields is cut from the squad. Ben Graham and Sav Rocca both went through this process before making the final roster to debut in the NFL.

Former Sydney Swans and Collingwood forward Nick Davis has also been in the US in recent weeks for punting trials and has reportedly had interest from the San Diego Chargers (the former club of Darren Bennett). Further trialling could also see him win a preseason slot with an NFL club to compete for a punting spot when the regular season rolls around. Davis along with a group of other hopefuls from Australia have been showing their wares in specially organised sessions in front of a number of scouts from various NFL clubs and colleges in the US.

There have already been some Australians offered college scholarships this year to play gridiron football, such as Alex Dunnachie who has a full, four-year scholarship at the University of Hawaii. Dunnachie was playing Under 19's for Banyule in the VAFA in 2008.

No its not footy. It's footy related news with an international aspect. There are all sorts of reasons that I find it relavent - exposure of Aussie Rules to Americans, comparison to Gaelic transfers to Aussie Rules, the effect of Aussie Rules skills on the NFL punting game, whether NFL scouting of Aussie rules players can potentially hurt Aussie rules, drawing power of Aussie rules in non traditional Aussie Rules areas as a pathway to NFL football and any number of extensions anyone wants to make. I think you will find that these sort of stories are covered by other footy media, and even on the AFL's own website.

Additionally, from our stats it seems that plenty of people want to read them (including NFL fans - who hopefully come to our site, read it and learn a bit more about Aussie rules). Until Brett says we don't want to cover these stories I will continue to write them. I won't be offended if you don't read them. On the other hand we are always looking for people to write on footy in various regions so feel free to put your hand up.

... and I don't think I've ever vetoed anything have I? I don't particularly claim to have that power - hopefully the final decision is by consensus amongst all the editors. I guess if there's no clear decision you guys seem to defer to me for the final call.